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Before we could drive the 2009 Roadster, a brief tour of the HQ and "factory" was provided. Two curious things about the HQ's location; the first was that it's in Menlo Park. Thomas Edison did much of his most notable work in Menlo Park--only Edison's Menlo Park was in New Jersey.

It costs about $450,000 and delivers a monstrous 670 hp, but the meanest Lamborghini since the legendary Miura SV must do without such modern conveniences as direct injection, a dual-clutch transmission, bixenon adaptive headlights, active differentials, a starter button, a radio, and stability control. Lamborghini engineers even considered eliminating four-wheel drive, which would have shaved another hundred pounds off the grand total. But in the end, they refrained from creating an even more radical rear-wheel-drive Murciélago, which might have made the 42/58 percent weight distribution unwieldy in the wet.

Is 300 hp too much power for a compact, four-passenger sport coupe? Back in 1974, singer Barry White softly spoke the timeless line, "I've heard people say that too much of anything is not good for you, baby." Although White, of course, was referring to the love of a woman, nearly everyone who got behind the wheel of our Four Seasons 2008 BMW 135i coupe had similar thoughts about the twin-turbo six under its hood: was it simply too much for this little car?

Hours after Chrysler's bankruptcy became official, I was pulling out of the parking garage in a 2009 Chrysler 300C SRT8. This may sound stupid, but I feel obligated to tell anyone who will listen that the car continued to drive like usual. Not once did I worry about getting a replacement part or whether my local dealer would still be in business come Monday morning.

Nowhere to go but up
The first-generation Chevrolet Equinox compact crossover might as well have arrived with a 10-mpg supercharged V-12. In a segment that prefers four-cylinder engines to six-cylinder units almost two-to-one, Chevrolet was fighting an uphill battle when it launched a crossover that only offered a V-6 and was burdened with a price of entry $4,000 higher than competitors in 2005.

The attention that Lincoln paid to refining the aging Lincoln MKZ (née Zephyr) platform was immediately evident when I wheeled our silver test car out of the parking structure. There's a newfound sense of solidity and refinement to the car that should be apparent to anyone who's ever driven the previous models. To be sure, the MKZ is not yet on par with the Lexus ES350 or the Acura TL, but it is much closer to a luxury-car experience than before.

If only General Motors chairman Rick Wagoner had driven a Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid to Washington last November instead of flying via company jet. A two-wheel-drive version of this pickup could have completed the Detroit-to-D.C. journey on one tank of regular, thereby hinting to our elected representatives that GM gets it. In his remarks before Congress, the now former chairman might have noted that his vehicle of choice was not some distant development but instead a real, ready-for-market, cowboy Cadillac steeped in advanced technology.

SONOMA, California
Carroll Shelby and the Ford Mustang are knocking on immortality, and with age comes the wisdom to invent new variations of the classic pony car theme.

Much like the BMW 7-series, the S550 is not a car one can digest in one night. There's just so much going on, so much that it can do, that one barely scratches the surface by relating how it feels and how it drives.

I haven't driven a Ford Edge in a long time--so long, in fact, that I forgot just how nice a vehicle it is. One quick glance at our test unit and you can't help but notice the optional 22-inch chrome wheels, which are a $1,000 option.

I just can't get past the price of this car. There's a decent amount of power, but it's going to the wrong wheels, and the result is tons of violent torque steer. The pedals aren't positioned for heel-and-toe shifting, and the turbo lag is very noticeable. Other cars in the segment (VW GTI and Honda Civic Si) are much more fun to drive and offer better value for your money. Bottom line: the competition in this segment is very strong, and the Caliber just doesn't cut it.

Mileage to Date: 10,539
Months in Fleet: Two

The development process behind an automobile differs slightly from company to company, but when it came time to render the 2010 Genesis Coupe 2.0T, it seems Hyundai engineers sat down with a Oujia board and channeled the spirit of Toyota's old AE86 Corolla. Laugh all you want, but ask yourself--when's the last time you've seen an affordable import sports coupe that didn't send power to the front wheels?

When the president of Government Motors cracks the change whip, Cadillac executives need only cite the new SRX crossover to acknowledge that the message has been received. Key differences in the 2010 edition include an engine and transmission rotated 90 degrees, primary propulsion reassigned to the front wheels, and nary a V-8 or a third row in sight. Also, the SRX's manufacturing site was shifted south of the border, and the base price drops by more than $5000.

I drove the XC60 only briefly, but it's a handsome little crossover, certainly better looking than the Mercedes-Benz GLK350, if not quite as sexy as the Audi Q5. The interior is a letdown. The Volvo center stack is really, really getting old, and it's not particularly user-friendly. The navigation screen displayed the usual legal warning language and instructed me to "push ENTER to accept these conditions." I pushed the ENTER button numerous times, to no avail; the screen retained the legalese and I never saw a map.

The phone rings, and it's Todd Mittleman, Director of Environmental PR for Honda, and he wants to meet me so I can drive the hydrogen-powered, zero-emissions FCX Clarity.

This 2009 BMW 750Li is virtually identical to our long-term test car, except for the addition of nineteen-inch wheels and high-performance tires. I've spent a lot of time in this generation of 7-series, and I'm generally very pleased with it. The interior is luxurious and most of the controls are very intuitive to use. Despite the fact that I've driven more than 2500 miles in a 7-series, I still don't know everything the new iDrive system is capable of controlling. There are so many functions that relate to the incredibly advanced technology in this BMW, it would take a lot of effort to really learn them all. Thankfully the controls relevant to daily driving (things like the radio, navigation system, and transmission and suspension settings) are easy to find and take almost no time to master.

Here are four sneak peeks in one: the Volkswagen Touareg in these pictures hides a new hybrid system that will be offered not only in a brand-new Touareg to be launched at the Frankfurt auto show in September, but also in the new Porsche Panamera and Cayenne and - mated to a smaller gasoline engine - in the Audi Q5.